Missouri History Museum names ethno-historian as new president

ST. LOUIS • Leaders of the Missouri History Museum
said on Tuesday that they had hired a community-builder, savvy political
operator and adroit fundraiser when they chose Frances Levine as their
next president.

Levine is a New Mexico archaeologist,
ethno-historian and longtime museum director, and the first female
president of one of the St. Louis region’s five tax-supported cultural
institutions.

Levine, 63, was picked with widespread support from
the museum’s private nonprofit trustees and publicly appointed
commissioners.

She has a doctorate in anthropology from Southern
Methodist University, spent years on archaeological digs in the West,
and turned Santa Fe’s old Palace of the Governors into the more than
96,000-square-foot, award-winning New Mexico History Museum, which she
has run for 12 years....